DESCRIPTION
This Area of Study requires students to explore the ways in which the concept of belonging is considered and expressed in and through texts. Through close language study, and by experimenting with different language choices, students will examine how perceptions of belonging, or not belonging, vary.
Perceptions of belonging are shaped within personal, cultural, historical and social contexts. A sense of belonging can emerge from the connections made with people, places, groups, communities and the larger world. Within this Area of Study, students may consider aspects of belonging in terms of experiences and notions of identity, relationships, acceptance and understanding.
Texts explore many aspects of belonging, including the potential of the individual to enrich or challenge a community or group. They may reflect the way attitudes to belonging are modified over time. Texts may also reflect choices not to belong, or barriers which prevent belonging.
Perceptions and ideas of belonging in texts can be constructed through a variety of language modes, forms, features and structures. In engaging with the text, a responder may experience and understand the possibilities presented by a sense of belonging to, or exclusion from, the text and the world it represents. This engagement may be influenced by the different ways perspectives are given voice in, or are absent from, a text.
The following annotations are based on the criteria for selection of texts appropriate for study for the Higher School Certificate.
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Making Multicultural Australia won the Educational Website (Secondary) category at The Australian Awards for Excellence in Educational Publishing for 2005.
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The website comprises resources designed to increase cultural understanding, promote tolerance and enhance cooperation between different communities within Australian society.
NEEDS AND INTERESTS OF STUDENTS -
The website includes more than 3000 pages of articles, research, teaching materials, audio interviews, video clips and Australian multicultural artworks.
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Both the medium and the content are relevant and accessible to young people. The resources collected present a panoramic view of Australian history and society which is simultaneously instructive and engaging.
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The website provides opportunities for students to explore Australia’s rich multicultural heritage and to consider issues which are relevant to cultural diversity and harmony in the twenty-first century.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHALLENGING TEACHING AND LEARNING
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As well as evaluating site content, students consider the utility and effectiveness of the inter-disciplinary approach, interactive features, and the electronic medium itself, in actively informing and promoting community harmony amongst young people.
TYPE OF TEXT: Prose Fiction
TITLE: The Story of Tom Brennan
AUTHOR: J C Burke
COURSE: ESL
MODULE: Module A: Experience Through Language
Elective: Australian Voices
DESCRIPTION
In their responding and composing students explore the ways in which language is used to represent voices in texts. They consider the different types of voices evident in texts and how the creation of a distinctly Australian voice, or voices, affects interpretation and shapes meaning. Students will examine one prescribed text, in addition to other texts and examples drawn from their own experience.
The following annotations are based on the criteria for selection of texts appropriate for study for the Higher School Certificate.
MERIT AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE -
The novel was the winner of the 2006 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards: Older Readers and the Australian Family Therapists’ Award for Children’s Literature (Novel).
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This highly acclaimed novel by the Australian author J C Burke focuses on a teenage boy’s experiences after a tragic car accident in a small NSW country town, and the consequences which threaten to destroy his family when his brother is sent to gaol for manslaughter, his cousin is paralysed and family members are forced to flee their home and reconsider their lives, relationships and values.
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The Story of Tom Brennan depicts with both pathos and humour how families deal with grief and tragedy as it explores a number of current news issues, such as drink-driving, acceptable blood alcohol levels, and the age at which teenagers can get their driving licences.
NEEDS AND INTERESTS OF STUDENTS -
Written in the first person from Tom’s perspective the story has an immediacy and rawness that will engage the students as it has an Australian context and addresses the topical issues of drink-driving, speeding, P-plate drivers and adolescent behaviour and responsibilities.
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Students will be challenged and confronted by Tom’s introspection and emotional state as they simultaneously gain insight into how individuals and families are affected by their own, as well as other’s, actions.
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The narrative style and natural dialogue capture the essence and individuality of each of the characters as well as their emotional complexity and will engage students and help to develop their empathy and understanding of the central characters and issues.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHALLENGING TEACHING AND LEARNING
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Students will explore the non-linear first-person narrative form, the use of flashback and other narrative techniques in order to consider how the author creates and sustains suspense through a series of dramatic and reflective moments.
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The strength of this novel is that it evokes in the reader strong reflections on family, institutional living (both prison and hospital), the dangers of drink-driving and the resilience of individuals. The novel should raise interesting and lively debate about adult, adolescent and social behaviour, drink-driving and relationships.
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The study of this novel will promote students’ personal reflection and evaluation of their own experiences, values and behaviour as they consider to what extent they identify or empathise with the adolescent characters and their situation.
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